My stepson was going to be graduating from high school in a couple of months, so we decided to bring him on a spring break cruise as an early graduation present. His last cruise had been when he was 9 years old on Disney Cruise Line, and now he would be an 18 year old sailing on Norwegian Cruise Line, so this would be a totally different experience. My dad & Sue were travelling along with my husband (Dave), my stepson (Jared), and myself. Our booking included the unlimited beverage package, as well as four specialty restaurant dinners. Party of 5 to the western Caribbean – and away we go!
Friday, April 7th, 2017
Because my husband had to work, and Jared had school, we booked a late evening flight out of Hartford to Orlando. We would be spending Friday and Saturday nights at my dad’s house in Kissimmee, and then driving to Tampa for the cruise on Sunday. A couple of days before we travelled there was a significant storm front that lasted about 24 hours and delayed flights all around the country, but especially everything on Delta. In fact, we had friends who had been stuck in transit from New Orleans since Wednesday, and they didn’t get home till after we arrived in Florida! The Delta counters in Hartford were backed up with a truly insane number of passengers, but our flight on Southwest was slated to leave on time. It did end up leaving about twenty minutes late, but was able to make up the time en route, so we arrived in Orlando around 11:30pm. For some reason they were only using one luggage belt, so we got a bit held up there, but eventually we made it to my dad’s house. We spent about an hour chatting and then all went to bed around 2am.
Saturday, April 8th, 2017
For today we had decided to take a trip to Disney Springs, and to have lunch while we were there at the Boathouse, which has a bar/dock on the water you can eat at. Everything was delicious, and this time I managed not to spill my lemon drop martini! We walked through all the shops and overall spent a couple of hours there before heading back to my dad’s house. We spent a quiet afternoon at home while my dad and Sue packed, and then ordered some pizza for dinner. We called it an early night, since we would be leaving for Tampa in the morning.
Sunday, April 9th, 2017
We left for Tampa around 9:30am, and were checking in for the cruise around 11am. They began boarding shortly before noon (I think the ship cleanup took a bit longer than usual, as the previous cruise was a Kid Rock charter cruise). We would be sailing on the Norwegian Jade, which was about ten days out of dry dock. Once onboard we went to lunch at Grand Pacific, the sit-down lunch restaurant, and then headed up to the topmost bar, called The Pit Stop. We had some cocktails, and in short order the rooms were ready. We had booked a balcony room, #9142, and would be two doors down from my dad and Sue. The location was great, just off the aft elevator lobby heading toward midship, and we met our room steward, Willie, right away. Our muster drill was at 3pm in Grand Pacific, and seemed to include many more details than the usual muster drill. It seemed that they took that opportunity to add all sorts of non-lifeboat related safety info, which is probably a good idea. My dad, Sue & I went back to the Pit Stop for sailaway, while Dave & Jared walked around to check out the ship. I ran back to the stateroom briefly, and I ran into a girl in the elevator who asked if I was going to the spa raffle. I hadn’t planned to, but I decided what the heck, and told her that since she was the one who had let me know about it, I would split my prize with her if I won anything. As it turned out, neither of us won anything, but it was fun, and gave a good overview of all the spa services. After that I went back up to the Pit Stop to see the Jade pass under the Sunshine Bridge (always a cool experience), and we decided to eat at Alizar afterwards. From dinner we went to the Bliss lounge to check out Cryptic Blue, but it was sub-arctic there, so instead we moved to Magnums to see Carlos. A quick stop at the casino, and then off to bed for me. Sea day tomorrow!
Monday, April 10th, 2017
I was up early, so I met up with my dad and Sue for breakfast at 7:30 (Dave and Jared ate later at the buffet). We went to morning trivia in Spinnaker, where we actually came in second place, and then at 11am I was hosting the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet in Le Bistro. We had a fairly large turnout, and the main officers came, minus the captain, but most people left shortly after the officers did. I mingled with those who stayed, and then was on my merry way. I decided to do visual trivia at 12:30 before heading to lunch at O’Sheehans. For some reason, it was impossible to get veggie burgers at any of the lunch venues onboard. Other than the artichoke spinach dip, there were no options there for vegetarians, but luckily I also eat seafood, so I had some fish and chips. That afternoon I did my first round of Goofy Golf, which we all lost at, and was kind of lame. I spent some time at the casino, and then that night we had 6:30 reservations for dinner at La Cucina. The meal was very tasty, but took a solid two hours. By the time it was done I was just about nodding off, so I headed back to the room. Cozumel tomorrow!
Tuesday, April 11th, 2017
When I woke up that morning we had mail, and it was a letter letting me know that my room had been given VIP status for the duration of the cruise, which included breakfast & lunch at Cagney’s. Hooray! So we had breakfast that morning in Cagney’s, where I had the delectable French toast. Apparently they had changed the mixed berry topping for all blueberry, but it was still yummy. For our day in Cozumel we had booked the Cozumel Bar Hop, which my dad, Sue & I had all done before, but would be new to Dave & Jared. The legal drinking age in Mexico is 18, so Jared was able to partake, and he did a good job of pacing himself and avoiding the margaritas, which are super-strong south of the border. Our first stop was Punta Morena, and one of the vendors there kept up a hilarious stream of banter trying to entice people into his shop. Second was Coconuts, where one of the resident dogs was sporting an adorable Mohawk. I won an additional welcome shot there, so I was unable to finish my blue margarita and had to bring it to go. Bar three was Playa Bonita, where I grabbed some lunch and Sue signed our names on the wall. Our final stop, Rasta’s, included a few shooters from their secret stash of peanut butter tequila…yummy! We did have some time leftover to shop when we got back, but I was a bit tipsy and decided my best course of action was to head back to the ship. That night we had dinner at Grand Pacific, and spent some time in the casino. My dad & Sue liked a guy called Jumaji, who they said looked like a homeless guy, but played guitar and sang really well. He wasn’t on anywhere that night, though, so we checked out some of the other entertainment around the ship. Overall we had been skipping the Bliss lounge, because they kept the temperature sub-arctic there. Beautiful bar, just really cold! So while the act performing there, Cryptic Blue, was pretty good, we couldn’t take freezing and had to leave. A quite casino stop and I crashed for the night.
Wednesday, April 12th, 2017
We would be spending the day in Costa Maya at Nohoch Kay, which I had been to several times before, but was now under new ownership. Unfortunately it was no longer as fabulous as it had been on past visits. Service and food were still excellent, but their prior policy of not allowing salespeople on the beach had been eliminated, and I get annoyed when I have to keep shooing people away every 30 minutes or so. The old owner, Jaime, was also very visible, and the new owner never made an appearance. It wasn’t awful, but the shine was definitely gone. In fact, I’m thinking next time I end up in Costa Maya I will try Maya Chan, which I’ve heard great things about. I did get a nice massage while I was there, and Dave & Jared had some fun kayaking, but we left around 1:30 to head back to the pier. We all split up from the taxi stand and made our way back to the ship through the shopping village. I tried to catch up to Dave & Jared at Cariloha, the bamboo shirt people, but I beat them there. Since I had described who I was looking for, I had some fun and had the locals tell Dave that I said to buy the bedsheets when he finally made it to their shop. Apparently they literally yelled him down! The afternoon activities were a bit light today, so we just hung around the ship till sailaway, and then grabbed some dinner. I decided to go to the Deal or No Deal game show, and Jared opted to join me. I arrived early to get my game card, and when I heard the sound of the singer performing in the theater, I decided to catch the remainder of the show. Her name was Jeri Sager, and she had been a Broadway actress for many years. She put on a great show! After she finished we watched Deal or No Deal, and I won a pull tab, which paid me nothing. I had been slated to meet my dad & Sue in the sub-arctic Bliss Lounge for the Abba tribute, but it was packed and I couldn’t find them. A quick run at the slots and off to bed for me!
Thursday, April 13th, 2017
Today would be Roatan, and Dave, Jared & I were visiting Maya Key. My dad & Sue had opted to stay onboard, and maybe pop out to the shopping village for a bit. Dave would be snorkeling today, as this was the best spot on our itinerary for that. I did the animal and ruins guided tour, which did a lot more with the replica ruins than it did last time. Dave & Jared were having trouble understanding the guide (he had an accent, as well as a mild stutter, so it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to follow him) and they decided to go on ahead to the animal sanctuary. I met up with them at the end of the tour, and then we all headed to the pool area to have lunch. After lunch Dave did his snorkeling, and said it was great. By then the weather was starting to turn a bit, so we decided to head back to the ship. I was back in time for Goofy Golf, which Sue met up with me for. It was a lot more fun than earlier in the week, but we still lost. We had dinner reservations at Le Bistro for 6:30pm, and met up at Magnums for a pre-dinner cocktail. My dad had on one of his blue tropical shirts, so Dave & Jared took the opportunity to match him with the shirts I had bought them in Jamaica. It was hilarious! And it made for a great picture at dinner. I had heard the menu for that particular restaurant had been updated on most of the ships, but it was exactly as I remembered, and I still think their salmon tastes like it was rolled in salt (yuck). There was nothing on the evening’s schedule of interest to me, so I just stopped at the casino and then turned in.
Friday, April 14th, 2017
Harvest Caye, Norwegian’s new private island in Belize, was our stop for today. We were only going to be there till 1pm, so we had decided to skip the beach and just check out what the island had to offer. The negative to the island is that nothing is included: your food and drinks are all a la carte. I did stop at one of the bars while Dave & Jared checked out the zip lines and such, and took in the beach view. It’s a beautiful place, and the shops were an eclectic mix of brand names, ship-run souvenirs, and local artisan stuff. The dock is crazy long, I would say about a fifteen minute walk. They do offer shuttles back and forth if you are in a wheelchair, but otherwise everyone is expected to walk this in the Caribbean heat. They have benches along the walkway, but still, it needs some rethinking. Once back onboard I decided to compete in the slot tournament, and shockingly came in first place! I would be competing in the finals on Saturday for a $500 prize. Later that afternoon I played bingo (I only pay the cheap $10 card bingo) and lost. Our reservations for that night were in Cagney’s at 6:30pm, and everything was excellent. For me, it was the best dinner of the cruise – I was especially enthused by the scalloped potatoes! Nothing else exciting that evening, as I had seen the Elements show a bunch of times, and had no interest in the White Hot Party.
Saturday, April 15th, 2017
I love sea days! I woke up early, grabbed a bite of breakfast, and then headed to my final attempt at goofy golf, where I actually won a water bottle – hooray for the sweet taste of victory! Morning trivia after that, where I crashed and burned, and then I headed to the casino to ensure I was on time for the slot tournament finals. Everyone came to cheer me on, but in the end I took second place, so no prize for me (insert sad face here). After that I did tri-bond trivia, which was so ridiculously easy that almost everyone in the room got all the questions right. From there I grabbed some lunch, and then made a last minute decision to go to Deal or No Deal, where I won another losing pull tab. Our final night we had reservations at Moderno, which was better for everyone else than it was for me. The good news was that they had added a shrimp and a fish to the meat menu. The bad news was it took them over an hour to actually bring either one around to me, despite my repeating that I was waiting for them every time they offered me meat. I had intended to catch Jeri Sager’s second show after dinner, but I didn’t quite make it by the time I was done packing. I did meet up with my dad & Sue in the atrium for a bit, but after that I just headed back to the stateroom.
Sunday, April 16th, 2017
Back to Tampa! We hit the buffet for a quick breakfast, and then went to Magnums to wait for our luggage tag color to be called. Disembarkation was slightly delayed, but we were in the car by 10am. We stopped back at my dad’s house for a few hours before heading to the airport. The line at the Southwest counter was a little crazy, as it was Easter Sunday, but we eventually made it through and headed to security. Dave & Jared passed through the scanner first with no issue, but when I passed through I was pulled to the side. The TSA agent explained to me that I had been flagged by the scanner on my left shoulder and my groin, and that they would need to do a pat down. They went into great detail, and offered to take me to a private room, which I declined. Frankly, I’ve never heard of anyone coming out of one of those rooms in under an hour, so they were welcome to do whatever they liked to me, as long as it was done publicly where I had witnesses. After the rather invasive pat down, they had me hold my hands palm up and then swabbed them with some cardboard looking thing. Then they told me to wait and disappeared behind a wall. They returned a few minutes later and told me they needed to do a second level screening, and again offered to take me to a private room. Um, no, but I would like my husband present. My husband, however, refused to come back over the security line and risking rescanning, so he watched from a distance. More detailed explanation of the pat down from the TSA agent, and more poking and prodding. All the while another TSA agent was going through each item in my bag, swabbing it and putting it in a microwave-looking box. When they finally finished, they handed me my stuff and told me I was free to go. Perhaps not the best idea, but I asked “What did you flag me for in the first place?” and they told me explosive powder. Explosive powder, what the heck!! I came in contact with absolutely nothing questionable all day, so I doubt the accuracy of their scanners, but I was cooperative throughout the entire process. Arguing seems to be what gets you dragged out of sight, and I was trying to avoid that at all costs. Dave & Jared thought the whole thing was hilarious, and made lots of jokes about it all the way home, and for about a week afterward. Out flight home was otherwise uneventful, and we picked up our car from the LAZFly and made it home around 8pm.